Farewell for Now

Revisiting a place where you were consummately happy as a child is risky.  The house you remember may be gone, or irreparably changed.  

The house at 801 Flynn when George Crowell owned it.

The house, in my grandmother's photo
album, with her notes about it.
She bought it from members of the Crowell family.

The house today: The Vintage Inn B&B.

Visiting my grandmother's old home has been a chance for me to look back, look around and look ahead.

I look back in my mind and at old pictures of the house, and am blessed (and relieved) to know that it hasn't changed a whole lot.

Clawfoot bathtub with some original hardware.

I looked around the house when I visited in October, and saw that a family who truly loves it now shares 801 Flynn with their bed-and-breakfast guests and their neighbors.  I saw a community, and a state, that cherish their history.

Antique cast iron fireplace insert, stamped "The Buckeye"

I look ahead and I hope that more people will recognize the Crowell House for two things: its history and its graciousness.

The historic significance of the house is evident.  Built in 1906, its exterior red brick design appears to reflect a major trend in American architecture around the turn of the 20th century: the Prairie Style, with its hipped roof, overhanging eaves, and windows all in rows.  

Its interior lead glass windows, gold-leaf scrollwork, and solid oak appointments were reportedly crafted by an unnamed but highly skilled Italian immigrant, one of so many working in the Midwest in the early 20th century.

  

The house's original owner, George W. Crowell (1861-1944), was an influential local businessman at that pivotal time in Oklahoma, and American, history.  (The Cherokee Strip land run was in 1893; Oklahoma became a state in 1907.)

George Crowell's Lumber Yard
(photo found in public document at Ancestry.com)

George and Mae Crowell
(photo found in public document at Ancestry.com)

But how to describe a house that extends grace to the people who cross its threshold?  

The house at 801 Flynn reminds me of what the English novelist Dora Jessie Saint ("Miss Read") wrote about another peaceful old house:

"There is no doubt about the general reaction most people have to the 'feel' of a house.  Some houses are forbidding, cheerless and indefinably hostile.  Others seem to welcome the stranger who steps inside.

"...It was full of memories for me.  [The previous owners and visitors] seemed to have left something intangible behind: a sense of happiness, simplicity, courage and order...."  

The house at 801 Flynn is just such a place.

I think I need to visit it again.
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This story is one in a series on the historic red brick house at 801 Flynn in Alva, Oklahoma.  The Prairie-style mansion was built in 1906 by local businessman George W. Crowell. 

My grandmother bought it from his heirs in 1968, and lived there for several years. 

The house has changed hands several times since then; it’s now The Vintage Inn, a bed-and-breakfast.  

I went back to visit in October 2013.   All the blog posts I wrote on the visit are collected here:  http://estatesalechronicles.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-historic-house-at-801-flynn-alva.html

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Red Bricks and Murals in Alva

Part of the fun of visiting a smaller city is just strolling around, getting a feel for the place and absorbing bits of its history.  So one day in October I took my camera and wandered around Alva.  

The last time I'd had a chance to do this, I was a teenager on a used bicycle my grandmother had picked up at an estate sale or auction.  This time, I took the rental car and ventured a little farther.

It was a gorgeous autumn day.  The leaves were beginning to turn.

Alva Town Square

One of the highlights of looking around town has to be seeing the Alva Mural Project.

The middle...

...One side...

...And the other side of "Threshing Time," which commemorates harvest activities.  

"The Run" depicts the 1893 land run that opened up Northwest Oklahoma,
known as the Cherokee Outlet or Cherokee Strip, and the founding of Alva. 

45th Infantry Division Mural

This mural commemorates the World War II POW camps near Alva.

Murals in Alva are on more than just flat walls.

After I looked at murals, I drove around looking at old (and newer) brick buildings.  I think it would have been very interesting to be a brick merchant in the early 1900s in Northwest Oklahoma.  You'd never have lacked for work.

Alva's town square includes the Graceful Arts facility
(nonprofit arts organization), under the green overhang.

This old church was apparently converted to a home.

This is the Cherokee Strip Museum in Alva.

Herod Hall/Administration Building, NWOSU, Alva.

And the Co-Op facility dominates the skyline on the north side of town. 
No red bricks in sight on it from this angle, but it's still fun to see.

Alva has several properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The most recently-listed is the Hotel Bell.

My sentimental favorite old red brick building is the Crowell House at 801 Flynn, now The Vintage Inn Bed and Breakfast.

My grandmother owned this house in the late 1960s through early 1970s.

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Here is a link to information on the Hotel Bell from the National Park Service/National Register of Historic Places:

http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/13000395.htm

Here's a link to the Preservation Oklahoma website:

http://www.preservationok.org/
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This story is one in a series of about the historic red brick house at 801 Flynn in Alva, Oklahoma.  It was built in 1906 (the year before Oklahoma became a state) by local businessman George Crowell.  My grandmother bought it from his descendants in 1968 -- her biggest estate sale purchase ever -- then sold it several years later.   It has changed hands several times since she owned it.

The house is now a bed-and-breakfast inn.  I went back to see it in October 2013.  

All the blog posts I wrote on the visit are collected here:  http://estatesalechronicles.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-historic-house-at-801-flynn-alva.html

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http://www.alvamurals.org/index.html

Jack Hayward, Alva Artist

During my recent visit to Alva, Oklahoma I made the rounds of the kinds of places I like to visit.  I walked around the town square, bought some pens at the office supply store, made an appointment to visit an antique shop later in the day, and went to the Library to check out their used book sale. 

As I paid for my books, my attention was drawn to a large watercolor painting hanging above the reference section of the library.

I caught my breath, as though I'd spotted a long-lost friend.  I was sure had seen that handsome snowscape before: it was by Jack Hayward (1903-1977).  

Well, of course it's here, I reminded myself, because Jack lived in Alva.

As I explained to the librarians (who had calmly watched me whip out my camera to take these pictures), Jack Hayward and his wife Marge were dear friends of my grandmother's.  When I was a teenager, I visited his studio and their beautifully-decorated home several times while my grandmother lived in Alva.  (Marge had an outstanding collection of paperweights on display, many crafted of millefiori glass.)  

The library also has an oil painting by Jack Hayward:

Chimney Rock in Northwestern Oklahoma

And some drawings (these may be prints; I forgot to ask):

Seeing these works made me remember the importance of Jack Hayward's work in my early life.  Hanging in pride-of-place in the entry hall of my grandmother's house was a watercolor landscape by Hayward:

(It's in the upper left corner of the photo)

Even though my old photograph is fuzzy, my memory of Jack Hayward is clear.  He is sitting outside my grandmother's house at 801 Flynn on a summer evening with her, her husband John and their mutual old friend Franc ("France") Wyatt.  Or Jack was in his studio not many blocks away, surrounded by his paintings and sketches, paintbrushes and paper.  

My grandmother owned at least three of Jack Hayward's paintings: the watercolor landscape above, a Mexican waterfront scene called "Tampico," and a landscape in oils dedicated to "Mrs. Kettle," a reference to a disagreement they'd once had which they later agreed was a case of "the pot calling the kettle, black."  

J.N. Hayward, as he signed his work, was a noted Alva artist and art instructor.  Although not much is written about him that's available online, there are several websites that contain memories of him and some of his students.  

I'm not sure how well Jack's work sold during his lifetime; so many artists are not really appreciated until after they are gone.  

And I don't know what happened to Jack's paintings when my grandmother sold the Crowell House in Alva. 

Because these art works are no longer in the family, I've always wanted to own an original Jack Hayward painting, and I figured if there was ever one for sale it would probably be in Northwest Oklahoma.  One of my objectives in visiting Alva was to look for Jack's work and see if any galleries or shops had one available.

But people I'd talked to in town about Jack had told me that his work doesn't come on the market very often.  I thought the best I could do was take pictures of the art in the library's permanent collection, and later troll the Internet for possible offerings of his work.  (I didn't have time to visit the other public spaces in the area where I've heard Jack's work is on display.)

Then a Moment of Grace happened:  

I left the library and went to the downtown antique store for my appointment.  I bought a few small things to take home as souvenirs.  The owner of the shop, seeing my great interest in All Things Old, offered to let me explore the back storage area too.

And there, high on a wall in the dark back of the store, surrounded by many wonderful dusty old things probably unseen for years, was a smallish framed watercolor painting.

I peered at the artist's signature in the dim light.  Was it...?

Yes.  J.N. Hayward '62.

I galloped to the nearest ATM machine, zipped back to the store and bought the painting. (Thank You, Lord, I think this is small enough to carry home on the plane!) 

When I got back to The Vintage Inn (my grandmother's old house), I was able to take a closer look at Jack's creation:

Not a major work, but a very pleasant one. Perhaps a little water damage in one corner, but not in bad condition for 51 years old.  And to me, priceless.

What a blessing, to go forth in search of memories and come back with something tangible -- a link with my past and a small treasure I can share with others in the future.

To be continued...
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A great place to find out more about the arts in Alva is the nonprofit Graceful Arts Gallery downtown:  http://www.gracefulartscenter.org/home

A storehouse of local history, the Cherokee Strip Museum in Alva also holds some of Jack Hayward's work: https://www.csmalva.org/home

The Alva Public Library's website is here:  http://www.alvalibrary.okpls.org/index.shtml  
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Updated September 2020: This story is one in a series on the historic red brick house at 801 Flynn in Alva, Oklahoma.  This Prairie-style mansion was built in 1906 by local businessman George W. Crowell. 

My grandmother bought it from his heirs in 1968, and lived there for several years. 

The house has changed hands several times since then. It was a bed-and-breakfast, The Vintage Inn, for several years, and then was bought by a local family. I like to think the house enjoys having kids in it again.

I went back to visit in October 2013.   All the blog posts I wrote on the visit are collected here:  http://estatesalechronicles.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-historic-house-at-801-flynn-alva.html

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